One of history’s great adventurers, Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels - dictated while in prison - were exceptionally widely read, introducing Europeans to the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China in the Yuan Dynasty.
In this edition of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out more about Marco Polo and his travels from historian Laurence Bergreen, author of Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu.
This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.
Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code MEDIEVAL. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here > 
You can take part in our listener survey here.   If you’re enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.

Marco Polo

From long-lost Viking ships to kings buried in unexpected places; from murders and power politics, to myths, religion, the lives of ordinary people: Gone Medieval is History Hit’s podcast dedicated to the middle ages, in Europe and far beyond.

History

Society & Culture

The Crusader states in the Near East were created after the First Crusade in order to keep hold of the territorial gains made by those known in the region as the Franks - essentially Christians from Western Europe. What can the military activities of the many different factions in the region tell us about how and why those states rose and then fell?
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out more from Dr. Nicholas Morton, author of The Crusader States and Their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187.
This episode was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.
Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.
You can take part in our listener survey here.

Rise of the Crusader States

One of the last kings of Anglo-Saxon England, Edward the Confessor regained the throne for the House of Wessex and is the only English monarch to become a Saint. But Edward the Confessor has also been blamed for causing the invasion of 1066―the last successful conquest of England by a foreign power.   In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega talks to Professor Tom Licence, author of Edward the Confessor: Last of the Royal Blood, about a compassionate and conscientious ruler, whose reign marked an interval of peace and prosperity between periods of strife.
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Joseph Knight and Rob Weinberg. Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.
You can take part in our listener survey here.

Edward the Confessor

The Anarchy is an intriguing and often forgotten period of history. There are fascinating characters and moments of deep political importance to England's development as a state. The involvement of women in the Anarchy is vital to understanding how it played out over almost two decades. 
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Sharon Bennett Connolly - author of Women of the Anarchy - in which she demonstrates how certain women were prime movers in a time of conflict and how their strengths, weaknesses and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of civil war one way - and then the other.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.
You can take part in our listener survey here.

The Anarchy: Disruptive Women

In the Middle Ages, animals were often the means for survival and the source of great wealth. No wonder then that in the medieval imagination, animals are not just animals. Animals were thought to have traits and characteristics that meant that they could be sorted into moral categories - good and bad, righteous and evil - that dominate the Christian imagination. Ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, dog-headed men were as real as elephants and whales were as sneaky as wolves. 
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Hana Videen, author of The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary to discuss animals, language, and how - when it comes to thinking about the animal kingdom - we actually have a lot in common with our Medieval ancestors. 
This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Joseph Knight.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.
You can take part in our listener survey here.

Fantastic Beasts of the Middle Ages

If you are planning - or dreaming of - your next holiday, have you stopped to wonder whether our medieval counterparts did exactly the same thing?  Why did people travel in the Middle Ages, and what was the experience like for them?  Were there any similarities with travelling today?
In this edition of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Anthony Bale.  His book A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages invites the reader to journey alongside scholars, spies and saints, from western Europe to the Far East and the Antipodes, giving an insight into how medieval people understood their world.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here >
You can take part in our listener survey here >

Marco Polo

Download our free app to listen on your phone